Meditation

Traditional Matins include a trio of lessons at the end of each Nocturn, and many days in the pre-1955 calendar have three Nocturns. In such cases, the first trio is a seasonal Scripture reading, the second is a exposition on the feast day, and the last is a sermon or homily from a Church Father. You could visit Divinum Officium (choose "Divino Afflatu - 1954" and "Matutinum") for instant access to these readings; a helpful daily feed of this is available on Substack​. If you prefer a more static approach then you could consult this English translation of the Roman Breviary.

On any given day around a dozen saints are commemorated in the Catholic Church, amounting to over 4000 a year. For centuries summaries of their bloody and unbloody victories have been recalled through the Martyrology. The latest of these accounts to be translated into English was fortuitously published in 1962.

Rev. Alban Butler's famous Lives of the Saints, a summary of the Acta Sanctorum, comes in several different versions: a complete 12-volume set broken up by month, abridged 4-volume or 1-volume works, and an additional 1-volume Pictorial Lives edited by John Gilmary Shea.

The celebrated compendium authored by Dom Prosper Guéranger, OSB, the Benedictine Abbot of Solesmes, meticulously steps through each day of the Temporal and Sanctoral cycles. Adventurous types may want all 7398 pages in one PDF; others can freely peruse each of the 15 volumes individually here or here.

This recent work by the Discalced Carmelite Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., is typically a traditionalist's gateway into the genre of meditations. Depending on which edition you have in your hands, carefully consider whether the old or new liturgical calendar is being followed.

A Dominican with a lot of time on his hands compiled the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas into a Latin devotional with the interesting title Medulla S. Thomae Aquinatis per omnes Anni Liturgici dies distributa seu Meditationes ex operibus S. Thomase depromptae. The more common excerpt from this are his Meditations for Lent (discussed later below), but an American high school teacher took on the task of translating the whole work for the benefit of his students.

A Redemptorist did the same as above with the writings of his saintly founder. The English translation was originally published in four two-part volumes.

Flowers from the Garden of St. Francis offers short sayings from the founder of the Seraphic Order.

A Thought from St. Ignatius for Each Day of the Year offers short sayings from the founder of the Jesuits.

Written by an anonymous Jesuit, this 2-volume work follows the method of meditation taught by the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

2-volume sequel to the above written by the Jesuit Rev. Fr. Bruno Vercruysse, S.J.

Vita et doctrina Jesu Christi, the influential work by Fr. Nikola Avancini, S.J., has been translated into several Romance languages. Its Spanish translation are among the files in this Telegram page:

• Facsimile of the original (Telegram)

• Advent through Time after Epiphany (Telegram) (Blog)

• Lent (Telegram)

• Easter (Telegram) (Blog)

• Time after Pentecost I (Telegram)

• Time after Pentecost II (Telegram)

Its sole complete English translation comes from the hand of Anglican Bishop Kenneth Mackenzie.

Bishop Richard Challoner, the same who revised the Douay-Rheims Bible into its more-legible rendering, offers in 2 volumes meditations for every day of the year.

This anonymous work presents episodes from the lives of spiritual greats like St. Teresa of Avila and St. Vincent de Paul, giving examples on how we can go about practicing the various Christian virtues. It has been re-released by TAN under the title Cultivating Virtue. A recording of the book can be found here.

Fr. Patrick Troadec, SSPX, offers reflections throughout the entire liturgical year in this 6-volume series.

Fr. Patrick Troadec, SSPX, offers daily wisdom of the saints in this 4-volume series, each themed to a temperate season.

Published a year before being created a cardinal in 1960, his Meditations for Each Day is a favorite of Fr. Prior and Fr. Z.

This 5-volume work by Fr. Andre Jean Marie Hamon has been making its rounds recently thanks to the efforts of some Trad Aussies and Sensus Fidelium. In one layman's opinion the content is extremely solid, but this same layman must advise that the constant references to the Paris Missal and Breviary betray its Neo-Gallican authorship (more detail on this topic can be found here and here). If you happen to harbor scruples about this, choose any other of the above works.